The Case of the Holy Fraudster
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
NOTES ON A STRANGE WORLD MASSIMO POLIDORO The Case of the Holy Fraudster The next World Skeptics Congress will be attempt in dating it. Kouznetsov's by Italian researcher Gian Marco Rinaldi held October 8-10, 2004, in Italy (for more claims were enough to have the believers revealed that the number of references to information, see www.cicap.org/congress). say that his work was further proof of nonexistent papers is probably around For this reason, I am denoting four columns the authenticity of the Shroud. fifty. Larhammar published his criticism to popular Italian mysteries; the previous in a note in the same journal (1994) one was on a very special liquefying blood. The Unmaking of a Creationist and subsequently summarized it in Should you come to the Congress, you could Many readers of this magazine may SKEPTICAL INQUIRER (March/April also take advantage of your trip to visit these recall Kouznetsov. Born in 1955, he 1995). The whole story of the faked famous enigmas. worked as a biologist in Moscow until references was also told in 1995 in the 1989, when he abruptly ended his career Australian journal The Skeptic. ne of Italy's most famous "enig- in biology. Since 1983, he has been an For a while, Kouznetsov was em- mas" certainly is Turin's Holy active creationist. He was associated broiled in the scandal. The creationist as- OShroud. This cloth, that with the Institute for Creation Research, sociations that had promoted him allegedly covered the body of Jesus located near San Diego, California, the publicly dissociated themselves from him. Christ and retained a mysterious nega- Slavic Gospel Association, and other Kouznetsov's career as a creationist ended tive image of it, has attracted incredible- similar associations. He was connected in 1995. controversy, especially after carbon 14 with American creationists such as However, the man was not done—he dating in 1988 revealed that the cloth Duane Gish and Henry Morris. was in fact starting an entirely new had a Medieval origin, in agreement In 1989, he published a paper in the career as a specialist in archaeological with the date of its first appearance International Journal of Neuroscience chemistry. During the very same (circa 1350, in Lirey near Troyes, (IJN) (49, 43-59), where he claimed he months when the creationist scandal France). Believers in the supernatural had round experimental proof in favor erupted, he was able to publish, in nature of the image on the cloth have of creationist theses. The paper important chemical and archaeological always maintained that "somehow" the launched him into an immediate inter- journals, no less than nine papers related dating had to be wrong. national career as a creationist propa- to the Shroud of Turin. Their hopes were apparently met gandist. He toured the United States, when a Russian researcher, Dmitri A. lecturing about the biological proofs of Friend and colleague Gian Marco Kouznetsov, revealed he had found creationism and published several Rinaldi has recently conducted die most proof that an ancient fire had probably papers in creationist journals. in-depth investigation on Kouznetsov's modified the carbon content of the In 1994, a Swedish biologist, claims ever attempted and has come up cloth, thus altering any subsequent Professor Dan Larhammar of Uppsala with a series of startling discoveries. University, examined Kouznetsov's 1989 Right from the start, clear evidence Massimo Polidoro is an investigator of the paper in the IJN (77, 199-201). Apart pointing to serious fraud emerged. paranormal, author, lecturer, and co- from criticizing die contents, he discov- Though Rinaldi kept Kouznetsov at founder and head of CICAP, the Italian ered tiiat eight key references in the bib- least partially informed about this skeptics group. His Web site is: www. liography referred to nonexistent papers inquiry, the Russian researcher has not massimopolidoro. com. in nonexistent journals. A recent check yet replied to several letters sent to him. 2 2 March /April 2004 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER The Making of a Sindonologist (that is, to microorganisms brought on same conclusions: Kouznetsov could not Kouznetsov's new career as a "sindonol- the textile from the atmosphere) (group possibly have obtained the samples of ogist" was originated by Guy Berthault, 2), or to heating (group 3). The chemical ancient Irish textiles. a wealthy French creationist known for modification of cellulose is the requisite to In the acknowledgements to his paper, financing work in various fields of his thesis that the carbon isotopes compo- Kouznetsov thanks eleven people from unusual research. Kouznetsov met sition of the shroud has changed as a con- eight American universities. At least six of Berthault for the first time at a creation- sequence of aging, of microbial action, these universities have never had the ist conference in England in 1992 and, and of heating (due to a fire that nearly claimed persons on their staff. Two of die from then on, in almost all of his papers, burned the shroud in 1532). The thesis universities have not yet answered, but in Kouznetsov thanks Berthault for his sounds unrealistic and the results of his both cases their Web sites list all the financial support. experiments look very odd. Rinaldi's sus- names of their staff and the names listed Kouznetsov first appeared among picions of fraud, however, are based on by Kouznetsov are not present. sindonologists at a conference in Rome indirect clues, independent of the claimed One key reference is to a paper from in 1993. Between 1994 and 1996, he experimental results. the Proceedings of the Georgian Academy of published nine papers in qualified Science. From Tbilisi, Rinaldi was chemical or archaeological journals, On the Tracks of a Fraudster informed that die paper does not exist in where, more or less directly, he claimed In all of the papers, the authors affiliation any of dieir publications and diat die to have provided experimental proof for is to "EA [or SA.] Sedov Biopolymer names of the three authors are not known. the thesis that the composition of car- Research Laboratories" in Moscow. Prompted by the results of the Irish bon isotopes in the linen cellulose can According to Kouznetsov himself, this investigation, Rinaldi turned his atten- be altered as an effect of various factors, was a private laboratory—of which he tion to a group of papers (1) where thus explaining the results of the 1988 was the director—that was active Kouznetsov reports about similar exper- dating. The obvious consequence, he between 1992 and 1998. It appears that iments on the chemistry of cellulose claimed, was that the Shroud may be no other research papers with this affilia- in fifteen samples of ancient textiles much older than established by the lab- tion have ever been published in chemi- of various ages. Fourteen samples, so oratories; indeed, it may be 2,000 years cal literature. But things get darker. he claimed, had been supplied by old. Until very recently, in sindonologi- Kouznetsov's last paper (4) is a report six museums in Russia (two in Moscow cal publications (especially in Italy) he of an experimental study on four ancient and one in Vladimir), the Ukraine has been hailed as sort of saviour for the samples, of various ages, of burial linen (Simpheropol and Ternopil), and Shroud of Turin. of Irish provenance. Kouznetsov claims Uzbekistan (Samarkand). He gives the In 1997, however, he met with a mis- that the four samples were donated to name (not the street address) and the adventure in the United States, where he him by a private foundation and by two city for each museum, and, moreover, he was jailed for bad checks in Connecticut private individuals in Ireland, and men- mentions the names of the directors or and imprisoned for five months. By tions two Irish consultants. For three curators whom he thanks in the accepting a six-month rehabilitation pieces of die burial linen, he mentions acknowledgements for having supplied program, he was freed and avoided trial. the names of historical people who were the samples. After this episode, he returned to buried in the tombs. Rinaldi has obtained evidence that Moscow, but began to lose the confi- With the collaboration of a number these museums do not exist. As to the dence of his former supporters. The cor- of people in Ireland (among them two museums in Moscow, things aren't pus of his publications connected with archaeologists and local historians), clear, since in the city diere are hundreds the Shroud and published in qualified Rinaldi has collected strong evidence of museums, and it seems that nobody scientific journals amounts to ten papers, that Kouznetsov has never been supplied has the complete list. Correspondents all coauthored with his friend Andrey with any of the samples. The Irish from Russia cannot confirm the exis- Ivanov. Nine of the papers were pro- donors and consultants do not exist, and tence of those particular museums. duced during several months in 1994. the sites and tombs have not been exca- Kouznetsov's experiments, as he de- Actually, they are just three papers, vated or do not exist anymore. Since the scribes them, are not done on single cloned to nine by multiple publication. paper is a report of experiments on just samples but are comparisons among sev- Rinaldi carefully examined each one, those four samples, then if the samples eral samples of different ages, and lack- every single quotation, reference, publi- do not exist, it becomes clear that ing the samples from four of the muse- cation, and affiliation given in them. Kouznetsov has never done any experi- ums, he could not have done the exper- All papers are experimental studies of ments and has fabricated the whole iments.